Our history: Odd and sad case of John Cummings

What do a Roman Catholic saint, dancing, a disease and a barn in Greenbush have in common?

The answer is John Cummings, about which little is known. Except for his connection to a Roman Catholic saint, dancing, disease and a barn in Greenbush. His brief story was told in the Dec. 15, 1826, issue of The Albany Argus.

First, however, let's talk about St. Vitus, who lived in the third century in what is now Italy. A convert to Christianity when he was a youth, he was persecuted and tortured for his faith. He died around 300.

Speaking in the Cathedral of Ss. Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert in Prague in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI reflected on "milestones in your church's history," including "the example of the young St. Vitus, who preferred to die a martyr's death rather than betray Christ."

Advertisement

Relics of the saint eventually made their way around Europe, with some ending up in the Slavic lands. There, people took to the saint's story and celebrated his feast day by dancing wildly before his image or statue. As a result, he soon became known as the patron saint of dancers and performers.

Which brings us to dancing wildly but unwillingly, an action sometimes known as St. Vitus Dance. While that term began as a tribute, it was soon applied to people whose movements were not uncontrolled, but uncontrollable.

Specifically, St. Vitus Dance was used as a epithet for Sydenham's chorea. According to the National Institutes of Health, it is "a neurological disorder of childhood resulting from infection [of] the bacterium that causes rheumatic fever. SD is characterized by rapid, irregular and aimless involuntary movements of the arms and legs, trunk, and facial muscles. It affects girls more often than boys and typically occurs between 5 and 15 years of age."

Added the NIH, "The random, writhing movements of chorea are caused by an auto-immune reaction to the bacterium that interferes with the normal function of a part of the brain (the basal ganglia) that controls motor movements."

Better sanitary conditions and drugs have all but eliminated Syndenham's chorea in the U.S. Where it still occurs, it generally does not become a lifelong problem. Rather, it eventually recedes. But, in the early 19th century, it was a serious problem.

Which brings us to a barn in Greenbush, as a part of the City of Rensselaer was then known. It also brings us to the article in The Albany Argus, which reported: "John Cummings, an individual who has been wondering about the [area] for several years, afflicted with St. Vitus' dance, and remarkable for his great mathematical powers, was found dead in a barn in Greenbush" on Dec. 8, 1826.

Cummings, with his involuntary movements and his extraordinary skills at ciphering, must have seemed like an alien in Rensselaer County. Maybe even an angel.

The Argus concluded its article with this assessment of the coroner's jury: "Verdict, that he came to his death by the visitation of God."